A/N: 20 Reviews

A/N: 20 Reviews. Wow. That’s amazing guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you…to everyone. Keep up the good work! I’m not going to mention any names but you know who you are: you TOTALLY called this one…You’ll understand what I mean when you finish the chapter.

Oh yeah, I’m happy to report that a vast majority of you guys actually felt bad for Shaun! I’m so happy I didn’t make him too easy to hate. Maybe this chapter will make it even easier. Hehe.

Chapter Twenty: Coincidences

"She was hot, man, but she was stupid as hell." Paul was ranting about his date last night and Dom was trying awfully hard to listen. "I mean, she didn't know what the capital of our country was for Christ's sake. And the whole time she's all giggling and rubbing my knee, and I'm thinking, This girl is absolutely retarded. Literally. God, it was awful."

Dom chuckled as swirled the ice around in his glass of water. This was the first time he'd eaten out in a while, but Paul had convinced him to take advantage of the warmer March weather and eat outside at one of their favorite cafes, J.J.'s Kitchen. They were done with their meal, and Paul exhaled, leaning backwards a bit in his chair.

"Did you get Nathan's message on the machine?"

Dom nodded subtly, wanting desperately to avoid the subject all together. His brother had been chastising, once again, because Dom was avoiding his mother. He'd given him specific orders to call back, but Dom had neglected to.

"How's that whole thing going?" Paul knew Dom well, and was fairly certain that he wouldn't reply, but he threw the question out anyway. Surprisingly, he was rewarded.

"Not so great. I honestly don't want to have anything to do with her right now. I couldn't bear to have her look at me and laugh."

Paul nodded solemnly, grasping the leather book that the waiter had just deposited on the edge of their table.

"I'm going to pay this." Dom began to complain, reaching for his wallet, but Paul just shook his head. "Seriously. Keep it." And then he wove away through the red and white checkered tables.

Dom leaned back, sighing, and pressed his palms into his eye sockets. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it. It was just Nate with another phone call, Nate with another text message, Nate with another voicemail, and he was sick and tired of hearing it. Their relationship had changed, now, and he hated it. He hated the fact that he couldn't talk to his brother, his best friend, without hearing about his shortcomings as a son. Now, every time they spoke, it was as if he was being treated like a child, as if Nathan was his father.

As if he'd ever had one.

Scowling he removed his hands, and when he saw the face across from him, his scowl deepened and he covered his eyes again.

"Saw you from across the street."

She must have a radar, Dom decided. A, "Hey-this-is-probably-the-worst-time-ever-I-could-show-up" radar that was linked to his body.

"Oh my God, Jackie, why the hell are you always right there?"

"Come on, Dom." She leaned forward, purposefully showcasing her ample cleavage that was barely constrained by her very tight and very sexy red dress. It was much more appropriate for evening than day, but Jackie didn't care. She never had. "I've missed you."

"Shut up." He murmured, looking for Paul over the heads of the crowd. "Just go away, please."

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" She giggled softly, then, and he'd never wanted to badly to punch a girl. "You honestly would have rather I hadn't told you? Seriously?"

"I would rather I'd never talked to you in my life." His words were vile at best, even to his own ears. She reared back a little, shocked that he would - could - say something so hurtful. That wasn't the Dom she knew. Hell, it wasn't the Dom he knew, either, but for some reason he couldn't take it back.

"Ouch." She murmured, turning away so that her long, blonde hair swished over her shoulder. He was mesmerized, for a moment, remembering what she had felt like underneath him, and how soft her lips had been on his throat, and the smoothness of her skin, the silk of her hair as it brushed against his chest. “You know, I don’t know why you have to take out your anger on me, all right? I wasn’t the one who was screwing another guy - ”

“She did not have sex with him.” His words were meant to be forceful and loud and angry, but they were merely sad, quiet, and unsure. “She didn’t.” The silence stretched on for a moment, and he wondered where the hell Paul was.

“Tell yourself whatever you want, Dom.” He exhaled angrily, looking towards the street, away from this destructive vixen across from him. That’s when he saw her, standing stock still on the sidewalk, staring, gaping at him.

It took his breath away, and his mouth went slack, and his heart beat erratically in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to vault across the tables, shove everyone, anyone out of his way and just hold her. Because as sexy as Jackie was, she paled in comparison to Kate. His Kate, with her creamy skin and exquisite eyes, her dark hair, gentle hands. It was enough, having her so close, to overpower him, and he pushed his chair back, ready to throw in the towel, ready to let go and fuck what she’d done because people make mistakes and she was sorry.

“You make me sick, Dominic.” Surprised, broken from his trance, he looked at Jackie, unsure of what she meant, what she was going to say. She had followed his gaze, seen her. “You’re so ready to trust her when she was so ready to kiss him. If you had seen what I had - how she touched him, let him touch her, maybe you wouldn’t be so eager. She’s not that pure.”

It hurt just as much as the first time, he realized, the breath leaving his chest, a lump forming in his throat that quickly went dry. He looked for Kate in the crowd once more, but this time he couldn’t find her.

He found Lydia instead.

And he hated the sight of her.

He watched with only the slightest twinge as she melted into the crowd, eager to rid himself of her memory. It was only after he blinked that he realized it wasn’t Lydia, it wasn’t Lydia at all. It was Kate.

It was like an epiphany, almost, the realization that the two were separate people, that Lydia was not and could not compare to Kate. To what they’d had.

He couldn’t trust Kate. Not completely. Not yet. But he could, maybe, in time. And maybe, if he could let go of the skeletons in his closest, he would be ready to start over.

“Look in the mirror every once in a while, Jackie.” He stood, seeing the woman in front of him as no more than a sorry school girl with nothing better to do than try and ruin everyone else’s lives. “Maybe you’ll realize the same thing about yourself.”

……………………

She was shopping with Lyndi when she saw them. They were sitting at a table in an outdoor cafe, her blonde hair spilled over her shoulder in the loose waves that only models and celebrities seemed to ever really get right. Lyndi was talking about the new clothing store they were going to check out, her constant babble fading into the background as she stared.

It was Dom. With a girl.

The effect was almost crippling. She froze in the middle of the sidewalk, the crowd parting around her and Lyndi not noticing until she was almost half a block away. When she returned, she shook Kate's arm in aggravation.

"Come on, Kate, we still have a ways - " But then her eyes followed her friend's and landed on the pair on the patio. "Oh my God." She whispered, taking in Kate's face with a look of heavy concern. "Kate, let's just go. Come on."

"I can't - " Kate whispered, a huge lump rising up in her throat, making it impossible to finish her sentence.

It was like being doused with cold water, the feeling that she got from the sight of them together. Her whole body was numb and shivering, though it was far from cold outside. Her legs were weak, her eyes stinging.

He was with a girl.

And she was pretty. She was really pretty. She was small and curvy and the exact opposite of what she figured Dom’s type was. The exact opposite of Kate Deveroux.

Right on cue, his eyes lifted. They looked straight in her direction, and shock appeared on his face, his mouth falling open. She swallowed hardly, blinking back tears. It had been so long since she'd seen him, so long since she'd felt that feeling of despair that she felt when she was so close but so far away. He made as if to stand, then looked across the table at that girl, who was saying something angrily, and then his eyes slid back to Kate and they were hard, callous, unfeeling. The look that he gave her sent shock waves through her blood stream.

And then, there was the stabbing, kicking pain of him with her. And she couldn't help the thoughts that were flying around her head, if he'd kissed her, touched her, held her. If he loved her. If it was that easy for him to move on. If this was what he wanted, if she was better, if he sang for her with the same genuine voice, the same emotion-rich and energy-charged voice that she knew so well. That she’d survived on.

It was too much. She turned and walked briskly away, as quickly as she could without really running. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her run away.

But later, when Lyndi said, "She's got nothing on you, Katie-Bug. He knows that. You could see it in the way that he looked at you," Kate didn't fully believe her, because she honestly wasn't able to read his features at all. Not like she used to. Now, they were stony and foreign to her. And she couldn't be angry with him, because she knew that it was her fault. Every single bit of it. And if she hadn't touched Shaun, he would still be hers. If she hadn’t touched Shaun, he would be slinging his arm over her shoulders possessively right now at that same restaurant as they ordered desert on the patio, and he would kiss her on the cheek and hum a little riff of his latest song in her ear.

…………………….

He was smoking in the alley behind Winters when he heard it. A door slam, then solid, quick footsteps heading his direction. He mustered the energy, took a long drag, and then was met with the one person he would rather die than see.

“What the hell are you - ”

“Just listen.” The words were two separate sentences, really. The tone was tired, but determined. Also, possibly, regretful? “I’m not here to pick a fight with you, so calm down.”

Adrenaline was pounding through his body, into his fingertips. His cigarette fell to the ground, his hands automatically balling into firsts at his sides. Hatred was pouring from his eyes.

It was Shaun.

“What do you want, then?” Dom spat, flicking his cigarette to the pavement, willing himself to relax and not lunge at the boy before him.

Shaun’s eyes closed briefly. Then, opening them again, he began. “I came to talk to you. About Kate.” The words were cool. “She’s awful right now. And I know it’s because of me - ”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you tried to get some.” Dom took a challenging step forward, unable to hold back. His voice still low and dangerous.

“Hey!” Shaun yelled back, keeping his distance, but fire blazing in his eyes. “It’s not like that, okay? Do you think that I’m that shallow?”

Dom scoffed mockingly. Of course you are.

“If all I wanted was to hook up with her, then I wouldn’t be here right now. If I didn’t care about it, why would I give a shit about how she feels?”

Dom grudgingly agreed, but didn’t say so. He wasn’t going to fall for the nobility trick just yet.

“Then what do you want?”

“I want you to talk to her.”

Dom’s eyes widened in surprise, first, then anger. This kid was telling him what to do when it came to relationships. This ladies man who wanted a hook up and nothing more was trying to tell him how to salvage what had been beyond anything that his track list contained. “Who are you to tell me how I should acts towards Kate?”

“I’m her friend.” Shaun claimed weakly. “Well, I was, anyway. And I hate seeing her look like a fucking corpse.” There was a brief silence until, in a quiet voice, then, “I hardly recognize her anymore. She’s so pale, and her eyes are just…empty. She’s lost, like, ten pounds…it’s not good, okay?”

Dom’s heart broke as he imagined her face: twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, soft jaw. He imagined that gone, her eyes void.

Shaun continued on as if Dom had actually replied. “As much as I wish that I could be the one to change her mind, to fix her, I can’t. She doesn’t want, she doesn’t need me. It’s only you. Always has been.”
“Not always.” Dom shot back bitterly, still itching for a fight. “Some douche bags just can’t leave well-enough alone - ”

“Oh, fuck you!” Shaun’s guard was slipping, and Dom could tell that it was becoming harder and harder for the younger man to control himself. “Don’t act like you’ve never acted like a jerk towards a girl before!”

He thought of Jackie, with resentment, glaring at Shaun. He loathed the fact that Shaun had the uncanny knack for hitting the nail on the head when it came to those type of things. “At least I know when to leave well enough alone.”

“Well enough?” Shaun couldn’t help it, the words were coming too easily, and he had hated Dominic for so long. “You think she was happy with you?”

“I know she was happy with me!” Dom cried out, his hands once again curling into firsts, the will-power to stay away from Shaun growing harder by the second. “Why couldn’t you just leave her alone! Just one girl. Yeah, she’s gorgeous, but aren’t the fifteen others good enough for you anymore? What’s so special about mine, huh? I mean, honestly. Why the hell would she be interested in a dumb jock like you anyway?”

“You don’t know me!” Shaun exclaimed, insulted. “I’m the fucking valedictorian of my class, all right? I’m going to Brown in the fall! Don’t judge me!” His limbs were trembling. “I don’t know what it is about Kate. I honest to God don’t.” The angry edge of Shaun’s voice had dissipated surprisingly quickly, his countenance softer after he’d mentioned her name. “I’ve asked myself that same question over and over again even though I already knew the answer. I love her - ”

“Shut the fuck up!” Dom’s whole body was shaking ruthlessly, his face red. “You don’t know a thing about her!”

“Are you serious?! I’ve been going to school for her for almost seven months now! I know that she loves to read, and her favorites are those ridiculous romantic novels by Jane Austen. I know that she hates her dad and that she really misses her friends back home. I know that she’d been thinking about going to school back in Boston, but she didn’t want to leave you. I know that her middle name is Renee and that her favorite drink is peach tea. I know that when she smiles at me - ” His voice trailed off, and then he blurted, “I don’t want anything else. Anyone else. So don’t you ever tell me anything about love, or who I am, or how I live my life. Ever. You don’t fucking know me.”

For once, Dom couldn’t think of a retort. It was a terse silence as they stared at each other. Dom was painfully aware that this boy was the one who had ruined everything, but the more that he spoke with him, the more he understood where he was coming from. The more he explained himself, the more Dom pitied him because he actually was beginning to understand why this prick had done what he’d done. He hated him. He still hated Shaun, but he did get it. Finally. This boy was telling the truth. Somewhere, somehow, he’d fallen in love with his Kate and he’d made a mistake. But he was here. He was trying to fix it. Before Dom had a chance to think a reply, Shaun cut through his thoughts.

“Come on, man. I’m sorry for how I made her feel - sorry for what happened, what I did, but what would you do if you were me? If she was taken? Tell me that you wouldn’t bend over backwards and crawl through hoops and hurt whoever you had to in order to be with her. Tell me you’d just let her go without fighting.” Dom was staring at the black spot his cigarette had made on the cement, but when Shaun said that, he looked up, noting with resentment and surpressed respect that Shaun was deliberately laying his feelings on the table, becoming vulnerable. “It’s so hard to do this, because I’ve hated you for so long, but please, please, please. I’m begging you. Just talk to her. She’s falling apart, and it’s excruciating to watch…” His voice trailed off, and then, with a sigh, he added, “Especially when I caused it and I can’t do anything to help.”

There was another silence. Shaun backed away slowly. “You know how amazing she is. You know that. But if you want, keep on playing the ‘Tortured Soul’ and add her to your list of Girls Who Broke My Heart.” He turned to walk away, Dom behind him, but then he paused. “You know that if you let her go you’re going to regret it. You’re never going to find a girl like that again. If you don’t go after her, if you don’t fight for her, it will be the biggest mistake of your life. And don’t worry. This time, I’ll stay out your way.” Shaun dug his hands into his pockets, exiting the alley with brisk footsteps. Dom stared after him, shocked into silence, and wondering against his will if maybe Shaun was right.